Tuesday, July 5, 2011

The story of pickles in our home is very complex. You see, I grew up in a small (small, small) farming town on the mid-western side of Michigan. My family was Catholic turned non-denominational. Walmart built a store when I was in high school and it was BIG NEWS and the nearest mall was 2 hours away. I grew up eating Vlasic dill pickles out of the jar. It was a major revelation when I discovered bread and butter pickles at a friend's house. I really never gave pickles much thought.

My husband was raised on Long Island in New York. His family is Jewish. He had malls within minutes of his house and Walmart was (is!) two stories high (it has this cool escalator that you can take your cart on!)! He grew up eating half-sour and full sour pickles (I didn't know what that was until about 8 years ago, either!) at the corner Kosher deli (probably made at that deli).

When we got married our pickle histories collided. Seriously. Pickles (or the lack of) are a BIG DEAL around here! I refer to my husband as a "pickle snob" because he will not anything other than a full sour pickle. Full sours are hard to come by in the grocery store and if you find them, they are expensive.

Of course, I had to figure them out and make themself. How hard can it be? It's a cucumber put in something, right?

It turns out that his half and full sour pickles are actually fermented pickles whereas my Vlasic dills are seasoned pickles. It also turns out that in order to make half or full sour (half vs. full is just a taste preference based on how long the pickle ferments) you put the cukes in a brine with spices and let it sit on your counter.

Yup, it's that easy! Now, mine just started a few days ago and it will take a week or two to get to full sour. I really have no idea if this recipe is working or not.

But I am so proud of this huge jar of pickley goodness sitting on my counter, that I just had to share!

Results forthcoming.... (keep your fingers crossed for me!)

And just because you were kind enough to read to the end -- a picture of our cats enjoying the open door a few days ago when the whether cooled off (to 100!). BJ is the orange kitty and Felix is gray.